Karnataka

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, at a rally in Jharkhand, that there are three key messages from the by-election outcome. “The first is that people of this country want a stable government. The second is that people not only taught a lesson but wiped out Congress and its allies, which betrayed the people’s mandate and insulted them by seeking power through the backdoor, at the first available opportunity.” The third message was that people only and only had faith in the BJP to provide a stable government, committed to development.

The Congress conceded defeat, with its former CM, Siddaramiah, resigning as the party’s legislative leader. DK Shivakumar, senior party leader said, “We have to agree with the mandate of the voters of these 15 constituencies. People have accepted the defectors. We have accepted defeat, I don’t think we have to be disheartened,”

For the BJP, the outcome comes as a source of relief because of recent setbacks. It scraped through in Haryana in October, with the help of Dushyant Chautala’s Jannanyak Janata Party, and it lost Maharashtra after the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, and the Shiv Sena came together. A loss in Karnataka would have been embarrassing for the party, and further dented the aura of invincibility it has created with a spate of electoral wins.

Given how the electorate in Maharashtra treated defectors in the recent assembly election, that was a distinct possibility.

That it hasn’t happened in Karnataka is perhaps more a function of the hold individual candidates have over their constituencies than factors such as chief minister BS Yediyurappa’s appeal, achievements of the state’s BJP government, or a push from Prime Minister Narendra Modi (he didn’t even campaign during the by-election; he rarely does). It is also a clear indication that the JD(S) and the Congress (the latter more than the former) have lost ground. Of the 12 seats the BJP won, ten were seats where the Congress won in 2018, and two, where the JD(S) did.

In 2018, the BJP won 104 seats in the assembly emerging the single largest party. However, the government was formed by a coalition of the JD(S) and the Congress in a power-sharing deal where latter, with 78 seats, actually allowed the former, with 37 seats, to take the chief minister’s chair. The BJP, however, didn’t give up, and continued to whittle away at legislators, mostly from the Congress. Analysts say that Congress leader Siddaramaiah’s strained relations with the JD(S) top brass may have also contributed to this. Whatever the reasons, 17 legislators resigned from their parties and the assembly on July 12, and the BJP formed the government on July 26.

With 10 of the defectors having won, the BJP government will now have to expand its cabinet to find space for them, or reward them in other ways. Analysts say that could pose a challenge. tal, the fleet is not enough to sustain the rush.

“Ambulance services are available on payment of ₹300/upto 15km and ₹800 for 30km and above. These services are free for poor patient, MLCS and unknown patients,” according to the LNJP website.

At LNJP, where 34 bodies had been brought, the police were able to identify 29 by Sunday evening with relatives bringing in photos of the dead with their IDS. After identification, the hospital started conducting autopsy early Monday morning. The bodies of the people who have been identified will be slowly released by the hospital after proper identification.

At the Lady Hardinge Medical College, where five of the nine dead have been identified by distant relatives, the doctors and police are in the process of verification after which the autopsies would begin.

Meanwhile, the Centre on Sunday lashed out at the Delhi government alleging that Delhi Fire Services had failed in taking action against violation of building bylaws.

A statement issued by the ministry of housing and urban affairs also alleged the Delhi government’s urban department has not given its nod for notification mandating the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to prepare the redevelopment plan of special area as part of the Master Plan of Delhi 2021 “despite providing all clarification sought from time to time”.

The MPD-2021 mandates MCD to prepare the Redevelopment Plan of Special Area which was prepared by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and cleared by the technical committee of the Delhi Development Authority, as per the statement.

Meanwhile, at Anaj Mandi, the scene of the blaze, other factories in the area remained closed prompting a protest by labourers. The protesting labourers said the factory owners were not allowing them access to the factories which also served as their residence.

They were being stopped by the police at the main entrance of the lane. “The factory owners are worried that we will speak to the media about the shortcomings in these places. But we are only looking to gather our belongings,” said Raja Qureshi, a worker who works in a neighbouring factory.

Another worker, Mohammad Naushad, is worried that he wouldn’t be paid for the days that his factory remains shut in response to the fatal fire.

The labourers raised slogans at the entrance of the lane even as local residents and curious onlookers clicked images and made videos of the burnt building.

Even as the drama went on, the destroyed factory was visited by North MCD commissioner, Varsha Joshi, in the afternoon. She left the place without responding to questions from the media.

The factory was also visited by the forensic experts and a police team from Uttar Pradesh. They refused to interact with the media.

Other business establishments in the neighbourhood remained closed for a second consecutive day. on the basis on religion, and sought a division on votes.

Congress MP Manish Tewari said the bill is “unconstitutional” and “contrary to the spirit of the Constitution which is secular”. “Equals cannot be treated as unequal. When a person comes to India, he is a refugee. You cannot discriminate against him on the basis of religion,” he said during the debate.

The CAB has sparked protests and fear across India.

Protesters returned to the streets in Assam and blocked roads, burnt tyres and painted walls with slogans against the new proposal. Student groups called for dawn-to-dusk shutdown in four districts of the state. Shops, businesses, educational and f i nancial i nstitutions remained shut and public transport stayed off the roads.

“We will fight and oppose the bill till the last drop of our blood,” All Assam Students’ Union adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya told news agency Reuters, underlining the region’s resistance against migrants amid fears that tens of thousands of settlers from neighbouring Bangladesh would gain citizenship.

In Gujarat and Kolkata, hundreds of people staged protests and marched against the proposed law.

A group of over 900 scientists and scholars issued a joint statement against the proposed bill on Monday saying use of religion as a legal criterion for determining Indian citizenship is disturbing. “We fear, in particular, that the careful exclusion of Muslims from the ambit of the bill will greatly strain the pluralistic fabric of the country,” the statement said.

Amit Shah said Manipur will be included in the Inner Line Permit (IPL) system. An ILP is a travel document issued by the Government of India for Indian citizen who want to travel into a protected area for a limited period.

Shah said that the government is committed to protecting the identity of the north-east.

This is the second attempt by the Modi administration to amend citizenship law. In January, the legislation was passed in the Lower House of Parliament but lapsed as the Rajya Sabha didn’t take it up.